Ground Zero: An Avant-Garde Mosque?

The debate about Park51, the center of Islamic prayer, is blustering. Its proximity to ground zero poses a problem for every two out of three Americans. Ibrahim Abdul Matin, who is in charge of the center, works with the mayor of New York and has explained the project’s innovative dimension and even affirmed that it will show Islam in a new light. We want to know more.

I am not an expert on mosques, and the images that I have are rather traditional and could easily pass for postcards. Moreover, there is reason to be interested in this new project in New York because it is planned to stand three blocks away from ground zero. The Daily Beast is now turning its attention to Michael Bloomberg’s environmental advisor. Ibrahim Abdul Matin explains the concept of a green mosque and tells us his version of this new center of Islamic prayer.

1. A name that evokes a “green space”: The mosque will not be named the Cordoba house as originally thought. However, Cordoba contains without a doubt too much of Europe and the past. Islam wants to enter into the city’s modern scene. The name Park51 was chosen in order to evoke an innovative project and a demand for environmental awareness. The author of the post focuses on the semantics around the word “Park” and turns down the ideas associated with it; trees, children playing, public spaces where children are, greenery and a place of peace where there is no debate. So, Park51 as a name would work in the context of what Islam asks of its worshippers, “to be servants of the earth,” and to treat nature with reverence. We agree.

2. Park51 would also be the first “green” mosque in the whole world, or at least out of the hundred in New York. The architects follow LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) constraints. As we imagine, in the middle of New York, this must be obligatory; it is an asset to also make this fact an element of communication.

3. This would be an open mosque. The given lessons will comprise a great overlap of the Islamic principles in the American environment and will permit discussions and meetings with outside people.

Right before the midterm elections, the debate on this project has actually become a national topic. Will Michael Bloomberg’s advisor convince the two out of three Americans who do not want Park51, even if the concept is Islam’s “new look”?